Apple shares plummet on news of Jobs' medical leave
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Updated at 2:33 p.m. with updated after hours trading information.
Apple shares plunged 10.8 percent a share in after-hours trading Wednesday, after the company announced CEO Steve Jobs would take a medical leave until June.
Jobs said he would take a medical leave after learning his situation was more complex than initially believed.
Apple's shares fell as low as $76.11 a share in after-hours trading, down 10.8 percent from its close of $85.33 a share at the end of the regular trading session.
Wall Street analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray said on CNBC that he still considers Apple a buying opportunity.
"No doubt that Apple is losing the greatest pitchman on earth, but people still want to buy Apple products," Munster said.
He added that the stock is grossly undervalued and presents a buying opportunity.
"Apple investors need to look at the big picture. They need to look at the new products, the balance sheet...this is a storm that will pass," said Munster, who noted Apple has a deep bench of talent.
The analyst pointed to Tim Cook, who will oversee Apple's daily operations during Jobs' absence.
"Tim Cook is a pretty unemotional person, but his ability to run a company is second to none," Munster said. "He is very capable of running the operations of the company."
Munster also noted that while investors may be "frustrated" with how Apple has handled the disclosures regarding Jobs' health, they should not be dissuaded from investing in the company.
Dawn Kawamoto covers enterprise security and financial news relating to technology for CNET News. E-mail Dawn. 
Shame on you Steve.
I guess a few dozen tech reviews and double digit growth year-over-year escaped your notice too?
[Edited to remove offensive material.]
Hope Steve gets better!
Back on topic Apple stock is definitely too cheap, definitely time to buy.
Desejo você lesões cancerosas.
And we're talking about a man's life here. Your accusation that Jobs wasn't innovative--even if true--would hardly be justification for wishing ill health on someone. I'm sorry but on this one you crashed and burned, CrashPad.
This company will continue to make great products with or without Mr. Jobs !, this is possible the best time to buy its stock..price is so low I can't imaging where will it fly once the markets rebound in the near future...
Then again... playing stock exchange has basically the same odds as winning jackpots in vegas..so much insider trading and stupid information out there that no matter what you can guess..it is just that a wild guess...
Get well soon Steve...You've done a great great job !
Like it or not, that's the way of a short-term position of investing; why stick around if you know that the stock is going to drop? You can always get back in later at the cheaper price.
As for the stock price? Let the idiot day-traders eat their losses and sell off at a lower price... once the financials come in next go 'round, those same morons will be begging to re-buy the same stock at a much higher price, as usual.
right
Some successor... but at least if Ballmer leaves for medical (or any) reasons, MSFT stock will likely go up on the news. :/
And yet Microsoft continues to grow and make billions.
Your comments have been rather lackluster of late and uninspired. Quite unlike your normal witty satire and cutting remarks. I hope you aren't feeling under the weather. Perhaps you may want to follow Mr. Jobs' path and take a leave of absence? I think you could benefit from it.
- by Vegaman_Dan January 15, 2009 8:06 AM PST
- It should be pointed out that this 10.8% drop was after hours... which is *after* the stock had already dropped more than 5% while the market was open. That means the total drop was even higher.
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(23 Comments)This morning it's recovered some of that, but there is a lot of mixed feelings amongst investors now. One analyst at RBC changed the stock rating to one of the lowest in years:
"RBC Capital Markets cut its rating on Apple's stock to "underperform" from "sector perform." RBC also cut its price target on the stock back to $70 US from $125 US."
SOURCE: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/01/15/applestock.html
But don't panic, it's back up to only a 5% loss overall from the start of day yesterday to its current value. This will no doubt vary a bit more until investors see what Tim Cook takes as his first action at the reigns.